Nuclear Families
by Gothamite
Summary: FUTURE STORY- Clark Kent Jr gets to grips with his new powers while his dad squares off with Nuclear Man.


Nuclear Families  
  
By The Gothamite (Robert O' Connor)  
  
Submitted: January 2004  
  
Heading: Set in a world where Lois and Clark get their baby the old fashioned way, (when Lois briefly retrieves her Ultrawoman powers) this story follows the origin of Clark Kent Jr, a.k.a Superman Jr.!  
  
Hi guys!  
  
I got the idea for this story off my last one- "Inner Demons Unleashed". In that story, Lois uses the molecule chamber in the fortress of solitude (which exists, by the way, in my stories), and gets her Ultrawoman powers back. This made me think though, "What if Lois and Clark tried for a baby if they both had kryptonian physiology?"  
  
Read up and find out:  
  
Clark rushed toward the delivery room. Lois was giving birth at last, and Clark had been sidetracked by a group of bank robbers. Clark raced through the hospital as fast as he could (without breaking into super-speed).  
  
Clark and Lois had realized by now that there was no possible way for them to conceive a child, with Clark being kryptonian, and Lois being an earthling. So they decided to try something out. Clark brought Lois to the molecule chamber in the fortress of solitude, and turned Lois into a kryptonian. For three weeks they were trying for a baby, after which they found out that Lois was finally pregnant.  
  
Clark finally reached the delivery room where Lois was situated. He saw the doctors telling her to push, and he opened the door. Lois lit up when she saw Clark, and continued pushing.  
  
Ten minutes later, Clark and Lois were looking at their beautiful baby boy. Lois was still reeling away from the pain, and exhaustion, and she was really glad that it was over.  
  
"He's so beautiful." Lois gasped, looking at her baby. Clark simply stared at the baby in awe. He could not believe that he finally had a son. Someone that he could take care of the way his parents had taken care of him.  
  
"What will we call him?" Clark asked several hours later.  
  
She smiled at Clark.  
  
"Let's name him after his father." She suggested.  
  
Eighteen Years Later  
  
Superman was battling a supervillain called Nuclear Man. Unknown terrorists in a lab created him by using a sample of Superman's blood they had achieved from a kryptonite experiment in the past. Nuclear Man shot powerful nuclear bolts of energy from his fingertips, and was almost as strong as Superman. Although Nuclear Man was mindless, he was young in appearance. Something that Superman was not. Although Superman was still in tiptop shape, he often worried about his age. He was not getting any younger. His powers would always stay the same, but he would eventually die from something along the likes of cardiac arrest, and that thought scared him somewhat.  
  
Superman blasted a massive line of heat at Nuclear Man, and the mindless titan wailed in pain, before throwing an equally powerful blast back at the Man Of Steel, sending him falling back into a wall. Superman was badly injured now. He had finally met his match. But he had to fight on.  
  
Superman zoomed forward at Nuclear Man, and punched him hard in the jaw. He then kicked him in the stomach, and finally threw him high up into the air. He flew up after him, but Nuclear Man was flying away into his hideout in space.  
  
"He'll be back." Superman thought.  
  
Clark Kent Jr. was walking home from school with his best friend Alex Klein. He pushed his glasses up his nose, and continued talking.  
  
"I'm just saying, if you really wanted, you could get an A, you just need to relax and think back hard enough when you're taking the test."  
  
"Easy for you to say." Alex argued. "You've never failed a test in you're life!"  
  
"Wrong!" Clark interrupted. "What about art? Three years ago? The asteroid incident?"  
  
Clark was talking about the occurrence when he accidentally spilt purple paint over his clay asteroid, that he was using for his art exam.  
  
"That was Johnny Cramer's' fault!" Alex yelled happily.  
  
When at last Clark made it outside his house, he rushed inside the house, and quickly did his homework. For a normal student such homework would take no less than half an hour, and then there was studying. For Clark, he spent five seconds doing his assignments, and then another minute studying.  
  
Clark went out to the backyard. This is where the real homework began. He got a piece of paper left over from his assignments, and crumpled it into a ball. He took a deep breath, and threw it high up into the air. The ball flew high above the clouds, where it gently hovered for a moment, before flying back down toward Clark.  
  
Clark took his glasses off and squinted, from far away, he could see the ball racing at him. He focused on it again. This time, he jerked a different muscle in his eye. Crimson beams of power flew from his eyes, and set the ball on fire. He continued blasting at the ball, until finally it was nothing more than a speck of debris.  
  
Clark Jr. had known that he was different for a long time now. It started with the strength and the speed. When he was five he outraced a car driving at thirty miles per hour. When he was ten he was able to lift an entire tree with ease. Now eighteen, he was finding it too easy to look through solid objects, and blow things up with his eyes.  
  
But that was not to say that he enjoyed having these powers. He could not compete in any sports, he could not do any physical extra-curricular activities, but the worst of all was that he could not even play a simple game of soccer with his friends without breaking someone's leg. The only way to let loose was to blow things up. He was going to confront his parents tonight. He was going to finally ask them why he was so different. Why they made him wear glasses when he did no need them. Usually they would say that he was just strong for his age, but being able to see through solid objects and melt things without using anything that god did not give him, was just plain super natural. The only other person he had seen using the likes of these before, was Superman. But there was no way that his father was Superman. There had to be another explanation.  
  
Lois was serving up dinner, when she noticed that Clark Jr. was looking very glum.  
  
"What's wrong honey?" She asked.  
  
"I need to talk to you...both." Clark Jr. answered.  
  
"What about?" His father asked.  
  
"I need to know...what I am." Clark Jr. said.  
  
Clark Sr.'s heart skipped a beat.  
  
"Your just going through a phase of strength. Your young, but your getting older at the same time, and-"  
  
"I'm sick of these excuses!" Clark yelled. "I deserve the truth this time. I'm not ten years old anymore."  
  
Clark Sr. sighed.  
  
"It's time son." He announced.  
  
He ushered his son up to his bedroom, and opened his closet up.  
  
"Uh, dad? What are you doing?" Clark Jr. asked.  
  
Clark Sr. pulled on a tie at the far end of the closet, and a pair of secret doors opened up, pulling the civilian clothes to the sides, and revealing an assortment of Superman uniforms. There was one version of the classic costume, with the red and yellow S logo, and then there was the new updated, streamlined version, with the yellow surroundings that were now black. The S was more futuristic.  
  
Clark Sr. then took off his glasses, and pulled open his shirt, revealing the S logo.  
  
"But that can't be right!" Clark Jr. thought. "I can't be Superman's son! I just can't be!"  
  
"I'm afraid you are son." Clark Sr. explained.  
  
"No." Clark Jr. would not believe it. He ran off at super-speed.  
  
Clark Sr. watched with his x-ray vision as his son climbed into his tree house in the back garden. Clark Sr. then started spinning around, until he was totally clad in the Superman costume. He hovered outside to his son.  
  
His son gulped, as he saw the man of steel hovering beside him.  
  
"S-superman?" He asked.  
  
"It's me son." Superman smiled. He held out his hand. "I want to show you something." He said.  
  
Clark Jr. smiled, and took off his glasses. He took his father's hand, and Superman flew the two of them out into the night sky.  
  
"Wahoo!" Clark Jr. yelled. "This is incredible!"  
  
Superman smiled. He remembered the thrill of the wind hitting his face, when he originally discovered he could fly.  
  
Clark Jr. closed his eyes, and savoured the moment. All around him, with his super-hearing, he could hear radios, taxi drivers humming to them, showers, anything you could think of. Clark Jr. then blocked out the sounds, and opened his eyes again. He was not holding onto his father's hand any longer. He was hovering in the air. Suddenly realizing what was going on, he started falling, fast.  
  
"Concentrate!" Superman yelled down to his son.  
  
Clark Jr. closed his eyes, and willed himself upward. He opened his eyes reluctantly, and saw the ground grow smaller and smaller underneath him. He was flying. The thrill was so amazing, that he could not even open his mouth. After a few seconds, he did not even need to concentrate. He had it totally sussed. He did a loop de loop, and flew back down to his father.  
  
"This is amazing!" He said.  
  
"I'm glad you like it." Superman added. "But there's more."  
  
Clark Jr. followed his father, as he picked up speed, growing faster, and faster, until he heard a tremendous, thunderous sound, suggesting that he had broken the sound barrier. Clark Jr. felt like a god. It was indescribable. He continued following his father, who was laughing beside him, until at last they reached the endless reaches of the arctic wasteland. Superman continued flying, until they finally reached a massive and beautiful structure.  
  
"Where are we?" Clark Jr. asked, as they walked inside.  
  
"This is my fortress." Superman answered. "It got me through some tough times."  
  
"What is it for?" Clark Jr. asked.  
  
"When the weight of the world really is on my shoulders, I can relax here. But I don't need it anymore. I'm giving it to you."  
  
"Really?" Clark Jr. asked in awe.  
  
"Yes. You'll need its training facilities." Superman explained.  
  
"Training?" Clark Jr. asked.  
  
"Yes." Superman answered. "To help me with the family business."  
  
He held out his hand.  
  
Clark Jr. was dazed by this opportunity. He could not believe it. He was to be, the second Superman! He could not handle such a responsibility.  
  
"I-I'm sorry." Clark Jr. said. "I can't."  
  
"That's fine." Superman said. "Come on." He said sadly. "Let's go home."  
  
The following day, Nuclear Man had returned, and was rampaging through Suicide Slum. Clark Sr. heard the screams of the inhabitants over his super- hearing, and flew straight down there, where he found Nuclear Man waiting for him.  
  
"Hello Superman!" Nuclear Man smiled.  
  
"You can talk?" Superman asked.  
  
"I have been...enhanced." Nuclear Man smirked. He flew up toward Superman, and created a massive ball of nuclear energy. He threw it straight at Superman, and the man of steel was knocked back into a wall.  
  
Nuclear Man grabbed him by the throat, and choked him tighter and tighter. Superman was losing consciousness now. He was able to muster up all of his strength into one massive stomach kick, and then a punch. Nuclear Man fell back, and Superman picked up a burned out car, which he threw at Nuclear Man. Nuclear Man was pressed into the ground. He was growing angry now. He fired the full extent of his nuclear blasts at the man of steel, and Superman was knocked backward. Superman's head was spinning. Nuclear Man zoomed toward him again. He ripped a lamppost from the ground, and whacked him over the head with it. Again, and again, he whacked at Superman with all of his might. Soon enough, the lamppost was starting to feel the strain of the fight. Nuclear Man was aware of its inability and threw it away.  
  
Superman lay gasping for air. Nuclear Man lunged forward, and elbowed him in the neck. Superman was pinned down on the ground now by Nuclear Man. It did not look like there was much hope of escape. Nuclear Man then grabbed Superman's head, and continued to smash him against the ground. Superman was growing angry now. He used all of the strength that he had in his skull, to push back up at Nuclear Man, as he continued to bash Superman's head against the ground. Superman's eyes went blood red, and powerful heat beams shot from them into Nuclear Man's eyes. Nuclear Man was blinded by the brightness, and dropped his head. Superman stood up, and continued to pour on the heat. He grabbed Nuclear Man, and threw him up against the wall. He punched him again and again, until it looked like Nuclear Man supposedly passed out. Superman could tell that he was still alive by his still beating heartbeat. Superman dropped the supervillain on the ground. He used a lamppost to tie him up. He then called STAR Labs in a telephone box. But suddenly, Nuclear Man leaped at Superman, and punched the living daylights out of him. He picked up the telephone box that Superman had used to call STAR Labs, and smashed it over his head. He then released a steady supply of nuclear energy.  
  
"You know..." Nuclear Man started. "My powers enable me to emit any type of radioactive force... And that includes kryptonite!"  
  
The yellow energy suddenly became green. Superman's throat blocked up, and he was finding it difficult to breathe. His head also felt like it was about to explode, and his chest was on fire. Nuclear Man continued laughing. There was no hope for Superman.  
  
Superman tried to grab Nuclear Man's foot, but was simply met by a massive kick in the head, sending him backward, while the kryptonite continued, in large quantities. Superman was feeling dazed now. The pain was starting to go away, and he was really cold. He was about to die.  
  
Suddenly, the kryptonite beams stopped. Nuclear Man was met by a massive blow in the head, followed by large blasts of heat. Superman looked up, and saw his son, wearing a specially made suit. The suit and cape was black, and instead of long sleeves, these were short ones. His S logo was a lot like the original version only the yellow parts were black.  
  
Superman Junior continued hitting Nuclear Man with his heat vision, before delivering the final blow in the head. He picked Nuclear Man up, and threw him up into the air. Superman Jr. followed him, and caught up with him. Nuclear Man was totally out cold. The new man of steel grabbed him by the scruff of his neck, and carried him down to the ground, where STAR Labs specialists were now waiting.  
  
"Well done son." The weakened Superman Senior said.  
  
This would be the beginning of a beautiful partnership.  
  
THE END 


End file.
